Reviewing modern and classic pulp novels and anthologies. Hard copies only, we do not review digital books or files.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

TWO GRAVES

TWO GRAVES

By Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Grand Central Publishing

484 pages

Several years ago a very good friend gave me two paperback
novels for Christmas.They were “The
Cabinet of Curiosities” and “Still Life with Crows,” both by Douglas Preston &
Lincoln Child.
They were my first introduction to Special FBI Agent Aloysius Pendergast and
one I’ve been most grateful for ever since.

The Pendergast books are the epitome of modern pulp
thrillers harkening back to the grand old hero magazines of the 1930s and they
clearly evoke the same escapist fare prevalent in those series.Upon becoming a fan of the tall, gaunt
Southern bred Pendergast, it soon became clear to me that he was the true heir
to famous pulp avenger of old.For if
Clive Cussler’s sea-going hero, Dirk Pitt, can be called the modern day Doc
Savage, something many of his ardent followers still claim, then Pendergast is
our new Shadow.Like that black clad nemesis
of evil who “knew what lurked in the hearts of men,” Agent Pendergast is a most
unique and extraordinary character.He
is wealthy and thus his career is an avocation of personal interest.He is learned with several degrees, skilled
in both philosophical and martial arts while a crack shot with most
weapons.Add to this the fact he also
has knowledge of obscure and ancient arcane practices and rituals while
possessing certain uncanny abilities which border on the supernatural and you
have a genuine pulp hero for our times.

Since discovering this series, I’ve relished each new entry
and have never once been disappointed by authors’ efforts.Along with such an unforgettable main
character, the books feature many truly amazing supporting characters from
Pendergast’s allies ala New York Lt. Detective Vincent D’Agosta to his exotic young
ward, Constance Greene who, though she appears to be in her early twenties, is
actually over a hundred years old because of a strange elixir that has
prolonged her youth. The genius of Preston and Lincoln is how they make the fantastic
elements of each book as believable as the normal ones.

Now “Two Graves” ends a trilogy story arc begun in “Fever
Dream” and continued in “Cold Vengeance.”For twelve years, Agent Pendergast believed his beloved wife, Helen, had
been killed by a lion on their honeymoon safari in Africa.When evidence surfaces that proves her death
was faked and that she might still be among the living, it propels Pendergast
on the most important case he has ever confronted.To say the story has been a roller coaster of
action and suspense would be a truly gross understatement and the revelations
in this final chapter are mind-boggling.From a psychotic serial killer in Manhattan to a hidden Nazis eugenics
camp in the jungles of Brazil, “Two Graves” is hands down the best Agent Pendergast
novel ever written and this fan would never make that claim lightly.Were the series to end at this point, I would
hazard most readers would be content with the established canon as it now
stands.

Of course, being fans, we will always want more; lots
more.But being a somewhat
discriminating reviewer, it is difficult for me to imagine Preston
and Child topping this book.It is
clearly their Agent Pendergast masterpiece.